Betty Lucille Johnson

  Research Notes:

Some of the family trees on Ancestry have no information on Betty, other than her name and year of birth. However, I did find a FT by searching Arthur Clifford Hermansen, born about 1919 [see below]. This FT notes that she did not have any children. Additionally I found an OBIT for Betty - see below.

As is often the case, most Family Trees and researchers do not provide any notes and often their family trees are not complete and often have with missing information or some cases wrong information.

Combining the information from different sources and FTs, the following appears to be the most accurate:

- Betty was first married to Frederick Ralph Hesley on 25 Jun 1965 in Hennepin Co, MN; likely Minneapolis
- prior to her marriage, she was living at 715 Douglas Street, Minnepolis, and she used the name of Betty Lucille Johnson
- her husband Fred Hesley had been married previously - from the FTs it is hard to determine is previous wife, but likely it was Josephine or JoAnn and her maiden name was likely "Lowman", and based on the Brown FT on ancestry, Fred and Josephine/JoAnn had 2 children. Additionally, Josephine/JoAnn had previously been married. Josephine/JoAnn died on 8 Apr 1964 and at that time she was living at 805 Germain St, St Paul.
- Fred Hesley died on 20 May 1978 and is buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis - he served in WW 2 with the US Navy; his first wife is linked to his findagrave post

- on 27 Aug 1979, Betty remarried Arthur C Hermansen. They were married in Nevada and her name was recorded as Betty Lucille Hesley. Arthur had previously been married (maybe twice) and he had at least 9 children.

- Betty's OBIT is recorded, but gives little information. The obit states that she is survived by 11 step-children and this likely refers to Arthur Hermansen's 9 children and Fred R Hesley's 2 children.

As I have indicated the story of Betty Lucille Johnson, my 4th cousin 3 times removed, is not complete. Although I have researched for over 6 hrs, I only have a partial story with many gaps. Perhaps, more information will be come available in the coming years.

Written by Rueben D Grue, 17 Jan 2022
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I have used the following Family Trees on Ancestry as a starting point:
[1] Roots, Leaves, Trees1 [teddysjg]; last access, 6 Jan 2022
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/100237486/person/220001237616/facts
[2] hermansen Family Tree [dottiemn89] access, 16 Jan 2022
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/27580790/person/12077658748/facts
[3] Brown FT [leonard Brown]; access 17 Jan 2022
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/112648360/person/122050742193/facts

- see notes

1. OBIT: Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) issue 22 Mar 2017, page B6
- died at age 89 on 20 Mar 2017; from Blaine [Anoka Co]
- survived by husband Art and 11 step-children ... step grandchildren

note: she is recorded as age 12 in the 1940 US Census, living with her parents Wright Co, MN

2. Ancestry collection, MN, US, Marriage Index, 1959-2001.
Frederick R Hesley, age 50 and Betty L Johnson, age 37, married on 26 Jun 1965, Hennepin Co; his birth abt 1915, hers abt 1915. Note the image/scan is very poor;
MOMS... Hennepin Co cert 07730023, Frederick Ralph Hesley and Betty Betty Louise Johnson, married 26 Jun 1965
- and The Minneapolis Star (Minneapolis) issue 10 Jun 1965 - marriage License; Fredrick R Hesley, 805 Germain St. St Paul and Betty L Johnson of 715 Douglas Street; also notes "legal" - I assume this means of legal age

Doing an Ancestry Search for Frederick Ralph Hesley: likely
born 12 May 1915, Hennepin Co; died 20 May 1978 Ramsey Co - findagrave id 785805, Fort Snelling
- findagrave grave marker: Fred R Hesley Sr, S2, US Navy, WW 2;
- WW 2 draft, registration 16 Oct 1940, birth as find...., contact: Margaret May
- a couple of Ancestry FTs - Brown FT [leonard Brown] - records that he was married 3 times: 1st to Josephine Lowman (1914-1964); she likely was married before and had 3 children; the above FT notes that Fred and Josephine had 2 "private male children"; the FT also records her death as 8 Apr 1964; newspapers.com has a record from The Minneapolis Star, issue 16 Apr 1964 p 121 regarding Vital Statics recording: death of "JoAnn Hesley, age 50, 805 Germain St" [likely St Paul] ** this is the same address for Fred Hesley regarding his marriage to Betty L Johnson;
Josephine/JoAnn according to the above FT was married to Fred Hesley in 1944 [but no record on MOMS...; also Josephine/JoAnn was previously married and 3 children; and she may have been twice before

NOTE: I have not found an Obit for Fred R Hesley (died 1978) or his first wife (died 1964) on newspapers.com, despited reviewing several issues in the Minneapolis Star and Star Tribune

3. Another Family Tree on Ancestry: Olson/Renstrom [j4cbro], accessed 17 Jan 2022
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/22953458/person/13944554980/facts
- some information is wrong - that is her mother is recorded as Edna Dorothy Swenson (1903-1981), although the FT links to
Edna Johnson (nee Bollman) findagrave
BUT: one link is to US, School Yearbooks, Iowa State Teachers College, 1949, Cedar Falls IA [around 200 kms north east of Des Moines] with name as Betty Lucille Johnson. ???? I am not sure if this is the same person

If you search for Betty Lucille Johnson - there are others named Betty L Johnson......... but there is a link to her marriage to Frederick Hesley

4. Arthur Clifford Hermansen
Ancestry FT, hermansen Family Tree [dottiemn89] access, 16 Jan 2022
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/27580790/person/12077658748/facts
- this records birth etc
- he at 8-9 children; 1920 US Census, he is recorded with his parents and they lived at 611 Ceder Ave, Minneapolis
- notes that in 1921 he lived with Conrad and Anna Ingwaldsen, living at 236 18 Ave S in Minneapolis. He lived there until about age 5 or 6, so abt 1925/26
- in 1931 he was sent to live and work Peter Narum's dairy farm in Bemidji - in 1916, his older sister had a baby and was adopted by the Narum family
- married on 29 Jul 1939 at Minneapolis to Mildred Maxine Boyer (1918-2001); [findagrave id 44212771 - grave marker with her mother, Eva Boyer]
[ her OBIT: Mildred M Hermansen, Star Tribune issue 13 Feb 2001, page 19 - names her children but not a husband]
- in Feb 1944 - with the US Navy and served during WW 2
- 20 Jul 1979 divorced Mildred - they have 9 children
- 18 Aug 1979, married to Betty Lucille Hesley (nee Johnson)

OBIT Arthur C Hermansen; Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), issue 24 Feb 2019, p B10
- died 16 FEb 2019 in Albertvill. Born 8 May 1919 in Minneapolis
- joined US Navy in 1944 until the end of WW 2; served on the USS Tekesta furing the battle of Okinawa.
- after the war, married Mildred - they had 9 children
- 2nd marriage to Betty;
- predeceased by his wife Mildred and his wife Betty; parents.
- survived by children ..............; also step-sons, Jim and Fred Laurel [- these are not named in Mildred's
obit, so I'm not sure the relationship. I'm not clear of the surname "Laurel". Possibly an error. Searching Ancestry's collection MN birth index, 1935-2000 with father, Fred Ralph Hesley and mother JoAnn, 2 children are recorded:
Fred Ralph Hesley b 25 Dec 1944 and James Robert Hesley b 11 Oct 1949, both in Ramsey Co. Likely Arthur Hermansen's step-children are Betty L Johnson's 2 step children and the children of Frederick Ralph Hesley's first marriage. Fred Hesley and Betty were married in 1965, the youngest would have been abt 15-16 years old. The use of the surname of Laurel is likely a missing spelling of their mother's maiden name, JoAnn Lowman.]

Arthur Hermansen 2nd marriage:

27 Aug 1979, Clark Co, Nevada; her name as Betty Lucille Hesley